Artists
Ian Gillan – lead vocals
Ritchie Blackmore – guitars
Jon Lord – organ, keyboards
Roger Glover – bass guitar, synthesizer
Ian Paice – drums
Written by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan & Roger Glover. Produced by Roger Glover & Deep Purple, recorded in July–August 1984 at Horizon Studios in Stowe, Vermont. The title track and fifth song (about 5:31) on Perfect Strangers (Polydor/Mercury, 29 October 1984), also released as a single on 18 January 1985 with “Son of Alerik” as the B-side.
The title track of the album that reunited Deep Purple’s classic Mark II lineup, with a haunting, doomy atmosphere and a thick, half-time groove that critics compared to Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.” It’s one of the few Deep Purple compositions without a guitar solo, and Ritchie Blackmore has called it his favorite song the band has written. A reviewer notes its lyrics were inspired by Michael Moorcock’s Elric series, and doom metal band Yob later covered it as a standalone single.
Deep Purple – Perfect Strangers Lyrics
Can you remember, remember my name?
As I flow through your life
A thousand oceans I have flown
Oh-oh-oh
And cold, cold spirits of ice, ah, ah
All my life
I am the echo of your past
I am returning the echo of a point in time
And distant faces shine
A thousand warriors I have known
Oh, oh-oh-oh
And laughing as the spirits appear
All your life
Shadows of another day
And if you hear me talking on the wind
You’ve got to understand
We must remain perfect strangers
Ah, ah, ah, no
I know I must remain inside this silent well of sorrow
A strand of silver hanging through the sky
Touching more than you see
The voice of ages in your mind, oh-oh-oh
Is aching with the dead of the night
Oh-uh-oh, precious life
Your tears are lost in falling rain
And if you hear me talking on the wind
You’ve got to understand
We must remain perfect strangers
Oh, oh-oh
Oh, yeah
To listen to other songs from the the Teleskop 25 program click here.